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Matariki

Matariki is the Maori new year, the seven stars and and a myth.

Matariki is the Maori name for the 7 stars also known as Pleiades. Over  centuries Pleiades have been celebrated by Greeks, Japanese, Chinese and Vikings. It rises every mid winter once each year. We celebrated that for over million years.The Pleiades are also seen and celebrated throughout the world as they relate to important cultural and mythical events celebrate activities related to unity, gatherings, harvesting and planting, paying tributes to the ancestors and looking ahead for the further. The Seven Sisters and what is referred to as the traditional Maori New Year. It announces its time for the new year.

Maori New Year celebrations were once popular but stopped in the 1940s. Only a few people took part at first, but in just a few years thousands of people were celebrating the Maori culture.

Matariki means little eyes or eyes of god. The story is about ranginui, the sky father, and papatuanuku the earth mother, were separated by their children. The god of the winds , tawhirimatea, became so angry that he tore out his eyes and throw them into heaven and that is how there are seven stars in the sky. Matariki has been captured in morals and songs and with the bright star whanui.

Matariki was a time to remember who died in the last year and singing, dancing and having big festivals.